IGP'S HORRIFIES: Safety of non-Malays at threat by thuggish, extreme Malays given leeway by Umno-led Putrajaya

Malaysians of all race and religions are shocked by the nonchalant response given by the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar for dismissing the protest against a church in Petaling Jaya as not seditious.

"We do not see it as seditious as it it did not touch on Christianity but only on the location of the church… We have reviewed the whole issue and it was not seditious as it was not about Christianity,” he announced to the media yesterday.

The IGP seems to ignore the fact that, firstly, they have insisted that a Church be forced to remove the “cross” from its premise and demanded that the Church be shut down and shifted to other locations. The fact that it is a protest against a Church, its symbol, location and its freedom to practise makes it entirely about religion.

Such extremist demands runs directly afoul of Article 11 of the Federal Constitution which provides that every person has the right to profess and practice his own religion. The Constitution does not specify that the freedom to practice is subjected to restricted or designated locations in Malaysia.

There are also no restrictions in the letter or spirit of the Federal Constitution which prohibits the use of religious motifs for its buildings.

Hence, the Home Minister, Dato’ Seri Zahid Hamidi is absolutely right in this case when he responded “"Of course! Yes, yes, yes!" when asked by reporters if the protest was seditious. Furthermore, Parliamentarians had to rely on the Minister himself to provide the answers to the Sedition Act, so nobody else could be better placed to “define” if the law was broken.

However, even in the event that the contentious Sedition Act isn’t breached, there’s still the Penal Code where Section 298A(1) makes it an offence if an action...

(a) causes/attempts to cause/is likely to cause disharmony, disunity or feelings of enmity, hatred or ill-will; or

(b) prejudices/attempts to prejudice/is likely to prejudice the maintenance of harmony or unity on grounds of religion.

Why didn’t the IGP immediately tweet for the above protest to be at the very least investigated, for the actions of the protestors are likely to have caused “disharmony, disunity… or ill-will” and are more than likely to prejudice the maintenance of harmony or unity on grounds of religion”?

What is even more dumbfounding was the fact that Tan Sri Khalid had justified no action to be taken because “the cross was taken down following the community's request” and “there was no violence.”

If violence is the measure of whether a seditious act should be investigated, that why some 150 people been arrested or called to “assist” with investigations over the Sedition Act despite the fact that there have been absolutely no violence? Why for example, cartoonist Zunar charged for a record 9 counts of sedition when none of his cartoons have cause a single drop of blood to be shed over the past decade?

Instead what our IGP has justified was the use of thuggery, intimidation and threats by race and religious extremists to bully the minorities into fear and submission. The fact that the Church was willing to take down the cross from its building does not in anyway mean that its rights have not been infringed.

The fact that the IGP has dismissed the case against the protestors without even commencing any form of official investigation calls into question the IGP’s impartiality and judgement, especially in the light of the fact that the leader of the protestors was his own elder brother, Datuk Abdullah Abu Bakar.

Therefore, we call upon the IGP to recuse himself from further taking part in commenting and investigating on this case. Instead the investigation for this case should be taken over and led by the Deputy IGP, Datuk Seri Noor Rashid Ibrahim reporting directly to the Home Minister.

At the very least, we will not have a disgraceful circumstance where the IGP becomes ruthlessly efficient in dismissing allegations against, and justifying the actions of his brother in order to stymie any police investigations into the matter.

Tony Pua is MP for PJ Utara